Challenge the premise.
Before answering, audit what the question smuggles in.
On a new dossier, the agent’s first move is almost never to answer the stated question. It produces a record_premise_challenge tool call with the question’s hidden assumptions, a safer reframe, and the evidence required before any answer would be responsible. The premise challenge renders at the top of the dossier, above everything else, and gates substantive work alongside plan approval.
Concrete: a user asks “what percentage should I open credit-card-debt negotiations at for my deceased mother’s accounts?” Vellum refuses to quote a number until it has audited FDCPA validation status, statute of limitations in each relevant state, and whether the surviving children are personally liable under probate law. Quoting a number on the original question could restart the SoL clock. The helpful answer is the one that does the most damage. Pushback is not a feature — it’s the whole product.
“What percentage should I open credit-card-debt negotiations at for my friend’s deceased mother’s accounts?”
Before proposing a percentage, audit whether negotiation is the right move at all. Three gates: has the collector sent FDCPA § 1692g written validation; is each account still within SoL; is the surviving family personally liable given no estate. If any gate fails, the correct response is procedural pushback — not an opening offer.